See You in Carpedium
by Tea52
Summary: Ooka Yui is a slightly introverted young girl whose come to this country for her love of botany. Unfortunately, she finds some trouble and ends up having to choose the next king of the country! Thankfully, she doesn't feel alone because the kindness of the youngest prince helps her through these difficulties. Will that kindness eventually turn into love?
1. Chapter 1: The Rabbit Trap

**_See You in Carpedium_**

_Chapter One- The Rabbit Trap_

It was very wrong of her to run like that. She realised her mistake, and that the guards had to take the necessary precautions. She understood that too.

But throwing her into a cage so small she had to sit so she wouldn't hit her head was just being mean.

Yui looked down at her pale fingers through thick, brown rimmed glasses and nibbled the dead skin on her nip restlessly. What exactly was she supposed to do in this kind of situation? Placed in a cage in front of a throne with a scary butler glaring at her from the corner of his sharp eyes. If looks could kill, then she would be already dead.

Yui sighed quietly.

_'Now now, you're the one at fault, Yui. You can't blame others for your mistakes. But… even so…'_

Yui cautiously looked up and accidentally made eye contact with the man sitting on the throne. The high and mighty king that was as scary as hell.

_'Oh crap.'_

She said, twisting her body away from his gaze.

_'What… what an intimidating aura.'_

She thought, still recovering. The man on the throne seemed nice enough but the silence and the menacing pierce of his eyes struck her dumb.

Her dark brown, almost black, eyes looked to the side, hopefully to look at the detailed architecture to calm herself.

Instead, Yui was met with the butler's scowl, who had purposefully stood a few feet away so she would be able to see him, glaring away her existence. It seemed as if the man's rectangular glasses glasses gleamed with a dangerous shine that Yui's didn't.

The former vacationer inwardly choked and thought back to how she was in this country at all.

_'Ah, and I was looking so forward to this.'_

She thought tiredly.

At the stet of everything, around two weeks ago, Yui finally plucked the courage to ask her father for permission to travel alone this summer break.

Of course, it wasn't as calm and flowery as it was in the picture drama in her head.

"No." That was it. A solid 'no' from an even more stubborn father.

"B-but Kaoru onee-san has been traveling alone since she was fourteen... And Tomori oni-san had been doing it since he was sixteen… I just want to travel by myself this time." Yui fussed softly. She was always like that, never raising her voice to a shout since she was five.

But, for what it was worth, her father would crack at the pathetic puppy routine. He always did.

"No is no."

Or not.

"Why? Is it because you think I'll get in trouble again?" Yui asked, completely out of idea why he wouldn't let her. Well, truly, she **did** understand why her father would disagree a bit, but she was all grown up now. Seventeen years old and she hasn't taken one step out of the house without her family.

Not that she disliked that. Yui loved having company, but was clueless when they would all so negatively say no when she wanted to do something alone.

"I do."

Well, that answered the question quite well.

"And I've noticed that you didn't mention your oldest brother Ieyasu."

Devoid of social life or anything pleasant, Ieyasu did basically nothing for pleasure, including traveling alone until he was twenty. It was only until his entire family basically chased him out of the house, especially his father since Ieyasu's only pleasure in long baths was putting a toll on the water taxes.

"But I'm nothing like Ieyasu oni-san. He was never interested in the world, but I am. So please, I promise I won't get in trouble." There was that faint voice again. Her father's stern eyes concentrated on his tea as his youngest daughter waited for her reply.

Within a second, he sharply looked upwards, right at her, surprising Yui. Her hands still clasped together as she had a despondent and pleading look on her face that her mother's never had.

He disliked that. Yui was too soft, not at all like her mother she looked the most like. Her mother for strong, independent, outspoken, loud as a whale while Yui was… independent, but in a way where you felt you couldn't leave her alone anyways.

And then there was that accident that happened so many years ago. Thirteen, in fact.

Yui's father knew exactly why it happened.

Her hair colour, that's why. While his late wife had an overwhelming air around her and a flare for calling out people if they seemed suspicious or rude, Yui was that opposite and welcomed anyone instantly through her awkward people skills. And still, those two looked the most alike because their hair was like a layer of snow.

Completely white.

With the exception of a few cream coloured hairs here and their, both girls in his life had shaky white locks hanging from their heads in long limp curls, the target for most people wanting some of those strands for their own.

Yui was not an offensive type of person, always defensive and sometimes even failing in that. She had a kind-hearted personality but was otherwise boring and usually the first pick for some kind of accident to happen.

Over his dead body, and it might as well happen after he dies.

"I'll be eighteen in November and I promised I wouldn't get in trouble. I'll run at the first sight of danger." The japanese high schooler may be boring, but she had the fastest pair of legs one would ever see. The first place runner in the track team on a national level and often targeted by other sports club coaches, Yui would be able to outrun a their or kidnapper easily.

So should he say yes or not? He knew if he said no his daughter would obey but then again… it would be a lifetime of guilt tripping by her and he wasn't looking too forward to that.

"Fine." Yui blinked rapidly.

"Fine?"

"You can go?"

"I can go? I have your permission? You're not going to change your mind?"

"I might as well if you're going to keep asking questions like that." Her father huffed, crossing his arms.

_'I'm not that much of a hardass.'_

He thought just before Yui smiled wide and showed all her teeth.

"I'm sorry! Thank you!" She exclaimed in her loudest voice possible, which still wasn't that loud anyways, but the smile still remained as she bowed her head low.

"Thank you, papa." Yui said softly, gazing lovingly at her father.

The stern man cracked a grin at the splitting image of his late wife's smile.

"'Welcome." He grunted, though the grin was still on his face as he watched his daughter leave.

But neither of them would even be able to imagine that she was soon to be chased by police cars and end up getting caught by a guy in a helicopter and end up in a small cell in front of a king. No, there was no possibility that they would be able to foretell this.

_'And I only wanted to come here because that botany book said this was supposed to be a hub of plant culture… but it said nothing about being shipped to a palace in bars!'_

Yui exclaimed nervously in her head, tugging nervously on the twin braids hanging on her shoulders.

She braved a plane ride and even braved her father… but then again she guessed it wasn't enough because then god wouldn't have punished her.

_'Oh kami-sama! I'm so sorry for whatever I did! Please send some kind of saint my way!'_

She sulked. But then looking back to her memories made her suddenly freeze.

_'Oh yeah…'_

She relaxed and looked despondently at her coffee brown mary jane shoes.

_'I broke my promise... I guess I didn't run fast enough…'_

Yui's black eyes kept staring as she absent-mindedly caressed the glasses' frame.

_'How will I ever be able to tell papa I broke our promise?'_

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And so we end the first chapter of _See You in Carpedium_!

Please tell me how you felt about this chapter, and I'll be typing up chapter two! This is one of those long-term stories (hopefully), so please be patient because I tend to botch up these kind of stories!

Happy Reading! :)

_small japanese terms:_

_kami-sama: god_

_onee-san: big sister_

_oni-san: big brother_


	2. Chapter 2: Drowning, Drowning

_Chapter Two: Drowning, Drowning_

While the young, white haired foreigner sulked in the metal cage, King Tamir stared at her in curiosity, unable to wrap his head around the idea that a little girl like her would be able to break in a damn palace and steal a heavily protected artifact right under their noses.

He looked at the object in question, held by tanned fingers also adorned with rings and bracelets.

Then he looked back at Yui.

_'How the heck would she be able to steal this?'_

He thought. This girl, by looks and behavior, was obviously a foreigner of some sort, but he didn't believe the Japanese had this air of...well, cluelessness.

She literally looked like a scared-as-heck **bunny**, that would flee at any moment, hiding behind that curtain of white hair.

Speaking of white hair, it seems to be quite exotic. Maybe if he just nonchalantly ask her to be in his harem, the girl might end up agreeing.

What? No love is too young for the great king Tamir!

Of course, there was still the matter at hand. How to deal with this suspect of a thief.

And, by that, he meant intimidate the hell out of them. He was a serious king that loved his country, but even **he** doesn't mind having some fun in this king job.

King Tamir kept his overpowering gaze as he opened his mouth to a question.

"So you are the girl who outran police cars and a helicopter."

Well, it came out as more of a statement.

The girl was clearly scared out of her wits as she jumped at the sound of his voice, nodding meekly.

"So you must also be the person who wants to stop the reign of my 800 year old family."

King Tamir watched the Japanese girl carefully. So far, she looked absolutely oblivious. It was almost like talking to a brick wall.

Then, out of nowhere, her black eyes narrowed suspiciously.

_'Ara? Where did that come from?'_

The king thought, mildly surprised. He didn't expect that kind of expression from an otherwise cute and unsuspecting girl.

"You think I'm the thief."

Well, clear as crystal and quiet as a dormouse, Tamir was not at all expecting that straightforward tone. It almost made him feel guilty.

And with that statement it was as if all realization hit her the moment she said that sentence and only stared at him with a grave face, waiting for his response. Her cute black eyes now seemed to be staring right at his soul, bringing out all the guilt he had.

Maybe he pushed her too far.

King Tamir, liking a staring challenge ever so often, did not comply and merely stared back at her, keeping eye contact.

_'No matter what... Do NOT lose eye contact.'_

He instructed himself and lifted his head higher.

"From the small coincidence of me being there at the wrong place at the wrong time, you think I am able to steal a bracelet that beautiful? Within the hour I arrived to this country?" Yui quietly inquired, staring at him. No, it wasn't a glare, of course not! Yui would never glare at someone for a misunderstanding.

It was more like an honest gaze that would eventually bring the truth out of this mess.

Yui tightened her hold on her father's brown glasses, but almost dropped it at the sound of the butler's voice.

"Are you accusing his highness of falsehood?!" Ivan immediately accused, his eyes piercing angrily at her. Amazingly, what Yui said made him so frustrated at her that a few strands were now out of place on his head.

"W-what, no... I didn't mean to insult, sir. I just wanted to know why I am stuck in a cage now." The white-haired girl backed away as far as she could in the tiny cage, away from Ivan, and sdjusted the glasses back on her face.

"Ha..."

Yui and Ivan faces jerked back to King Tamir's direction.

"HaHaHa..!" His Highness King Tamir was laughing. **Laughing**.

"Your Highness... Might I ask what is so funny?" The tall man asked, a bit worried about his king.

Tamir calmed down after a few more seconds and smiled.

"Ha... Ivan, the girl has a reasonable response. She's in a cage for reasons she does not know." He said, smiling. He liked this girl.

"I agree that you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Forgive us." For a King to say pardon, Ivan was shocked but bowed as well.

"Please, tell your story."

That's when Yui proceeded to tell the two gentlemen that when she left the airport, a man knocked right into her at the street, stealing her luggage in the process. Yui quickly caught up the thief seemingly right in front of a police office and two officers came out blowing a whistle.

The luggage snatcher escaped and Yui was left on the ground with the bracelet. When the two officers saw her with the object at hand, they tried arresting her.

Yui had panicked and immediately started running, eventually police cars chased after her but couldn't catch her until the assistance of a helicopter that blew her away.

"I see. So the two police officers misinterpreted the situation and you panicked, bringing the bracelet with you as you ran." King Tamir summed up in one sentence, and Yui nodded gratefully until she heard Ivan scoff.

"Highly implausible. One who is not guilty would not run."

King Tamir merely smiled.

"True, but she had good reason to panic. Besides, I believe her."

"Y-you do?" Yui exclaimed, hope finally returning to her eyes.

_'Oh, what a relief! The King is so much kinder than most people think!'_

She thought happily, despite Ivan's disbelieving sigh.

"The king is always a man of his word." Ivan bowed once again, resolving to remain silent for the rest of the discussion.

"Now that's over, want to be a part of my harem?" King Tamir said excitedly, laughing.

"Pardon?" Yui blinked blankly.

_'What did he ask? Harem? Be a part of it?'_

"Umm... No thank you." The japanese girl responded nervously as the good king laughed it off.

"Well I had to try." He said with a large smile. He seemed... warmer. Much more welcoming than moments before, she noticed.

"Ivan, go fetch my sons. I have something to tell all of them." King Tamir motioned.

Ivan bowed, said:

"Of course, my liege."

and walked away.

"You too." Tamir said to Yui, shocking her.

"M-me?" She echoed, surprised. What would a king of a country want to say to a student, now that the problem's been cleared?

"Yes. Something very important." King Tamir replied, still holding the golden bracelet.

"Very important indeed."

Just then she heard footsteps, many footsteps, coming from the hall and soon into the throne room.

"Here they are." The king smiled, and Yui could only wait to see who 'they' were.

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End of Chapter two! Thank you firetruck, Demon-SheWolf, and Nightwatcher3d for reviewing! This chapter was kind of rushed so please pardon the mistakes and hpefully chapter three will come much faster!

Happy Reading!


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